Classicist tapped to head former MTA research institutions

The classical scholar and professor Miklós Maróth has been tapped to head the Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH), a body established to take over the research institutions of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), László Palkovics, the minister of innovation and technology, said at a press conference on Thursday.

Palkovics said he and László Lovász, the head of the Academy, jointly nominated Maroth for the post. He dismissed speculation that the government had “dictated” the appointment.

“There was no pressure whatsoever,” he said.

Lawmakers approved amendments to legislation in early July that removed the MTA’s network of research institutions to ELKH, a body with its own, independent budget chapter.

The Academy, which had been in talks with the Ministry of Innovation and Technology on changes to the R+D+I system in Hungary for about a year, protested against the changes.

As we wrote before, the government’s proposals for the transformation of the network of research institutions including its separation from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) poses a threat to academic and scientific freedom.

Source: MTI